Taking risks is becoming quite the virtue these days. However, do the facts really line up? Can you really rely too much on the data and less on gut-feeling? Well Jill Dyche of the Harvard Business Review might have something else to say:

“Savvy managers understand that weaving data-driven decisions into the fabric of corporate governance can obviate organizational infighting and drive progress. By establishing clear accountability measures, managers can determine whether and how corporate goals are being achieved, and hold people accountable for how they are achieving those goals. ”

The above quote is simply a small piece of the larger reality Dyche has written about. These days, despite our advancements in high-speed, high-storage information technology, there still exist companies who act too much on what’s arbitrarily subjective instead of the simple facts and hard data.

As a financial service provider, you should be right up there in maintaining the balance of heart over head in company management. The problem of course is that these days risk-takers continue to have a large following of hero worshipers both in the business world and beyond. Another recent example would be the debacle of Facebook’s IPO. Prior to the event, many a business blogger and columnist have expressed concerns over the huge risks investors are taking in buying Facebook shares.

In the following Businessweek video, you’ll see just how many are starting to regret jumping in on the social media hype based on Facebook’s performance:

Despite Mark Zuckerberg’s success, if there’s one thing you can take from the statistics in the video it’s the fact that risk taking isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. But if there’s one thing that does minimize such risks, it’s data.

It’s quite logical really. The more information you have, the more you’ll know about what you can and cannot do. Relying on one’s own gut might work if you were some hero in an action movie but when it comes to business, it’s time to tone down on gut and let the hard facts and hard data take the wheel.

B2B lead generation can be a good example here. You don’t just purchase a contact list of businesses and start calling away. That list needs refining and your marketing strategy needs quality data to act upon. In fact, this isn’t just limited to the finance industry or even the whole B2B market. It applies to all businesses. Companies like yours though are one of those who know just much can be accomplished if you used data to your advantage. In the case of your leads, it tells you if they have the budget to business with you. They help you manage your time when setting financial appointments. They tell you who talk to about your service. In fact, even the numbers still play a role because not having them leaves you with nothing to start with.

Of course, there will be moments when there is still so much uncertainty but the guy who followed his gut comes through with a success story. However, there is just as much virtue in keeping yourself informed and using that information to steer clear of any trouble. Taking risks should be a last resort, not a popular option!

Financial planners are skilled professionals who boast not only credentials but also experience. However, when you have that level of expertise, it’s only right that you work for an equal level of pay and for reasons of equal level.

In short, you need to put yourself in a work environment that makes the best out of what you can do and pays you just as well for it. Honestly, what good was all the sweat and toil of getting your degrees and past work experience when you’re only landing doing small-time stuff?

There’s no harm in thinking big just to get your money’s worth of what you went through for the skills you have. As such, few things can get bigger than landing a job in a sizable business. You see the bigger the business, the more it has to do to manage its money. That’s where you can come in.

Be warned though, different businesses have different needs. It’s best to come prepared and sometimes you might even to set a few financial appointments to really talk things out with your target decision makers. On the other hand, you need to learn as much as you can beforehand.

Then again, it takes a lot of work if you really want to expand your search to the maximum. The good news is you don’t have to work all by yourself. Information is valuable but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any cost-efficient means to acquire it.

Outsourced telemarketing is a decent place to start getting some otherwise difficult information to pry out of businesses. Once you have that information, you’re set for finding out the best choices for your work.

Outsourcing financing lead generation and financing appointment setting services are great opportunities for companies. So to speak, it is cheaper than hiring and training new employees. On the other hand, firms do not only benefit from this reduction of costs. There is a material assurance that the services provided are made well by professional appointment setters. Quality is after all the main objective of service providers.

There is no doubt that outsourced telemarketing provide more than expected benefits to clients which demands exceptional services while incurring low costs.

Appointment setting service providers had trained highly-qualified telemarketers. With such workforce, clients can anticipate qualified leads to flow in the firms. Moreover, companies will greatly appreciate both the interpersonal skills and exemplary conduct that appointment setters possess.

The following statements validate the point of using professional appointment setters of a service provider:

They are highly competent in qualifying and scheduling sales appointments.

Cold-calling requires expertise and experience. To be efficient, experts should handle appointment setting.

All too often, outsourcing appointment setting is believed to be cost-efficient only. Some companies have this preconception that hiring an outbound call center for their financial planning lead generation is cheap but quality is questionable. This prevents them from putting their trust on business process outsourcing.

In all honesty, outsourced telemarketing for your financial planning lead generation is beyond cost-efficiency. It does offer rewards other than avoiding huge expenses. What are these? Here is a quick list.

Ample time to focus on what you do best – selling. When you transfer the responsibility of generating financial adviser leads, such as retirement planning leads or investment leads, you gain ample time to channel your resources towards more important functions. You are not bothered with the long process of looking for the right prospects and setting appointments for them.

You get the chance to work with the marketing specialists. Telemarketing firms have some of the best marketers in the business. And your campaign will be handled by several of them – high-profile professionals with a wealth of experience obtaining financial advisor leads.

Appointments with the right prospects. There is reasonable assurance of closing sales with financial appointments. This is the reason why service providers supply you not just leads but also scheduled meetings with interested prospective customers.

You do not have the struggle, spend a large sum of your money and consume a lot of your time doing prospecting and other tasks. You just have to find the right outsourcer, pay cheap price and start filling your pipeline with sales-ready buyers. Do not wait for business opportunities to slip away from your hands. Act now before it is too late.

If you think financial planning lead generation is easy, you should think deeper. Creating interest, obtaining financial adviser leads, making follow-ups, and setting up business appointments with the right prospects do not seem to be a piece of cake. I would not be surprised why several financial planning companies find it difficult to get in front of potential clients. Searching for the right prospects, fighting off the competition and convincing them about the solutions are great responsibilities. Are you ready to ride the big waves? You should. (more…)